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The time has finally come, comic book fans, to dig out those wallets: general admission badges to the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International will officially go on sale to the public on Saturday morning.

Although the event is more than four months away, badges, as usual, are already a hot commodity.

Badge sales officially begin at 9 a.m. on the Comic-Con website, but those who are interested in purchasing the badges are encouraged to log onto the website by 7 a.m.

To take part in the badge buying process, organizers say prospective attendees must have already obtained a Member ID from Comic-Con. Those who are eligible to participate in Saturday’s sale have already received an email notice with instructions.

Babes of Comic-Con

After having their special registration code authorized online, buyers will be directed to a virtual waiting room until badge sales actually begin at 9 a.m. Once sales begin, everyone in the waiting room will be sorted into random order and given the chance to buy a badge.

In the past, the Comic-Con ticket sales website has experienced glitches and hiccups, including in November 2010 when fans trying to purchase tickets to the 2011 convention were met with frustrating error messages as the website crashed during the high-traffic frenzy for badges.

In 2013, more than 130,000 people managed to snag badges and attend San Diego Comic-Con. Last year’s event offered more than 600 hours of programming spanning 460,000-square-feet of exhibit hall space at the San Diego Convention Center.

Babes of Comic-Con

By the way, this year’s Comic-Con kicks off on Jul. 24. Badge prices for adults range from $30 to $45 per day, depending on the day. On Thursday (Jul. 24), Friday (Jul. 25) and Saturday (Jul. 26), for example, the cost of a one-day badge is $45.

Comic-Con was born in 1970 in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel in the heart of San Diego. Over the decades, the “little event that could” has grown into a behemoth, taking over the Convention Center, neighboring hotels and downtown San Diego for a long summer weekend every year.

Comic-Con’s fervent fans typically attend the convention in elaborate costumes, transforming the city into a metropolis straight out of the pages of fantasy and science fiction. The event has also become famous for celebrity sightings.